Flint dispenser



7 June 28, 1949; I s -rz I 2,474,639

FLINT DISPENSER Fiied Aug. 1, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

B10025 SHFWE/YrZ Arman/Er:

Patented June 28, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Isidore Shprentz, New York, N.- Y. Application August 1, 1947,'Serial No. 765,377 I 2 Claims. (01. 206-42) This invention relates to a flint dispenser.

In the use of flint cigarette lighters, a few spare flints must be carried by the user as the flints have a limited life and must be replenished from time to time. These extra flints have been conventionally supplied either in small vials or in a package having a sliding tab containing depressions for several flints. Since there is no cover over these depressions in the tab when withdrawn from the container, the flints can easily fall out of the tab if the user happens to pull it out while it is in the wrong position.

Dispensers for other commodities, for instance, medicinal pills, have been constructed in the form of two disc-s held together at the center by means of a rivet which also acts as the pivot for the rotating discs. Though the pills are placed in depressions in one of the discs, loosening of the rivet causes a space to appear between the two discs and the pills, or if the dispenser were to contain them, the flints, may be lost by sliding out of the depressions and from between the two discs. Since both discs are of solid material, there is no way to indicate the number of pills or flints remaining in the container.

It is therefore the main object of this invention to provide a flint dispenser which is simple in construction in that it requires no rivet to hold the two discs together, but utilizes a holder having depressions of the correct siz and shape to accommodate the individual flints, which holder may be inexpensively manufactured by a simple die-press operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a flint dispenser having one disc of transparent material, so that the user can tell at a glance the number of flints remaining in the dispenser and whether the dispenser is being held in the correct position.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a flint dispenser having curved. ends of the transparent cover adapted to contain th flint holding disc and thus close the edged space between the two discs.

In addition, said curved ends of the transparent cover form a curved channel within which said flint holding disc can rotate freely.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the flint dispenser constructed in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the flint dispenser shown in Fig,- 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the flint'dispenser of Fig. 1 taken along the lines 9-3.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the flint dispenser of Fig. 1, taken along the lines 4--4.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view, similar to a portion of Fig. 4, showing how a flint falls from the pocket through the opening in the transparent cover.

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to the drawings of the flint dispenser shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said flint dispenser comprises a flint holding disc I having a plurality of spaced radially disposed pockets 2 therein. The peripheral edge 3 of said disc I is cut to form teeth 4 extending completely around the edge 3 of said disc I.

A cover disc 5 made of any suitable transparent material is placed on top of said flint holding disc I. The peripheral edge 6 of said cover disc 5 is curved over to form a U-shaped lip 1 which encloses the toothed edge 3 of said flint holding disc I. A section 8 of said U-shaped lip 1 is cut away so that a section of the toothed edge 3 of said flint holding disc I is exposed in said cut-out section 8. Cut in the top of the cover disc 5 is an aperture 9 which approximates the size and shap of the pockets 2 and is so placed that rotation of the cover disc 5 will place said aperture 9 over each pocket 2 in sequence. F'lints II) are placed in the pockets 2.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When the user wishes to obtain a flint ID from the dispenser, he rotates the flint holding disc I by means of the teeth 4 along the peripheral edge 3 of the disc I until a pocket 2 containing a flint I9 arrives opposite the aperture 9 in the transparent cover disc 5. Then, by overturning the flint dispenser, said flint I0 falls out of the pocket 2, and the aperture 9 into the hand of the user, as shown in Fig. 5.

As will be seen from the above description, the invention discloses a flint dispenser which presents a novel and simple device requiring a minimum of parts in that it eliminates a rivet pivot with all the attending difliculties as set forth hereinbefore.

The transparent cover enables the user to ascertain immediately the quantity and position of the flints in the container.

In addition, the U-shaped peripheral lip of the cover acts as an encompassing mechanism which provides easy rotation for the flint holding disc besides preventing accidental loss of fiints between the two discs.

While, in disclosing the principles or my in,

vention and its preferred embodiment, I have described various detailed structure and relationship, it will be understood that such embodiment and details are given by way of example only and not as limiting the scopeor my invention.

I claim:

1. A dispenser for small objects such as flint, food or medicinal capsules, pills and the like comprising a base disc having pockets arranged in spaced relation to each other, the peripheral edge of said base disc having tooth-like projections thereon, a cover disc having an aperture therein positioned to coincide with the pockets in said base disc, the peripheral edge of said cover disc being shaped into a U-shaped channel memher, said tooth-like edge of said base disc being adapted to rotate within said U-shaped channel member formed by the peripheral edge of said .cover disc, and a section of said U-shaped channel member being cut away whereby said toothed edge of said base disc projects beyond said cover disc.

4 2. A dispenser as set forth in claim 1 in which said cover disc is formed of transparent material.

ISIDORE SI-IPRENTZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,129,879 Samuel Sept. '13, 1938 2,194,009 Conner Mar. 19, 1940 2,236,224 Raschkind Mar. 25, 1941 2,258,866 Sanford Oct. 14, 1941 2,408,150 Moeller Sept. 24, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number 1 Country Date 763,229 France Feb, 5, 1934 846,206 France May 2'1, 1939 

